Masters runner - looking to improve - need some advice

What were your PRs back in high school? Which did you think was your best distance? How much time do you have now to train? Look up Pete MaGill's 5k plan at the Running Times web site.

Its funny - people always ask Masters Runners about their PRs from their youth. As if this has some bearing on how they should train now.

I would say that the psychological benefit of having run faster allows you to "know" how far u can push yourself, at least for a while. Beyond that, somewhat meaningless.

Start w/ long slow runs until you can do +1hr without too much physical/emotional stress. Emotional - if you haven't done a long run in a while, it can be daunting. If so, cut back. Keep the daunts to a minimum.

Off the Grid wrote:

Its funny - people always ask Masters Runners about their PRs from their youth. As if this has some bearing on how they should train now.

I would say that the psychological benefit of having run faster allows you to "know" how far u can push yourself, at least for a while. Beyond that, somewhat meaningless.

Start w/ long slow runs until you can do +1hr without too much physical/emotional stress. Emotional - if you haven't done a long run in a while, it can be daunting. If so, cut back. Keep the daunts to a minimum.

trying to get to high school PRs is a great motivational tool. I'm 43 and have been chasing my hs times since I turned 39 and got serious about training. I'm getting faster every season, and it has given me sharp fire in the belly.

And it gives a baseline - at the very least you can look up your high school times and try to match them on an age graded basis.

Get your mileage up towards the 45-50 mpw week range. Don't worry about pace for now. Slow-medium is okay.

Just start from where you are and add 2-3 miles per week to your training until you get to 45-50 and then stay there. Use low key races for speed work. Maybe once every 2-3 weeks. 5K-8K.

Stay away from marathons and half marathons. They will only send you off track.

agip wrote:

trying to get to high school PRs is a great motivational tool. I'm 43 and have been chasing my hs times since I turned 39 and got serious about training. I'm getting faster every season, and it has given me sharp fire in the belly.

And it gives a baseline - at the very least you can look up your high school times and try to match them on an age graded basis.

I agree. I was able to match my times from HS. My motivation was to see how close I could get, thinking I would not get there. But I was not fast then either.

As far as the OP's question, I was about at your point (albeit 1-2 min slower) at age 45 after ~30 years off. I started by slowly increasing mileage and getting Daniels' 2nd edition book. Reading that book cover to cover and following the 5-15k training plan helped me drop my times very quickly.

I think it's as good a place to start without over-thinking it.

Correction:

I think it's a good place to start without over-thinking it.

GB Ranger wrote:

Hi - I'm a female master's runner (just turned 44) looking to improve my time in the 5K. I started back into running a couple years ago after almost 20 years out of racing (used to run in high school and did a year of college xc and track) and have cut my time down from about 26 minutes to the high 21 minute range during last two years. I run about 25 miles a week now - no speedwork yet just some tempo runs, a long run and basic mileage - not sure about the best approach to take next. Any ideas?

You're doing great. Keep doing what you're doing.

the hard/easy myth

early season training

J.R. wrote:

GB Ranger wrote:

Hi - I'm a female master's runner (just turned 44) looking to improve my time in the 5K. I started back into running a couple years ago after almost 20 years out of racing (used to run in high school and did a year of college xc and track) and have cut my time down from about 26 minutes to the high 21 minute range during last two years. I run about 25 miles a week now - no speedwork yet just some tempo runs, a long run and basic mileage - not sure about the best approach to take next. Any ideas?

You're doing great. Keep doing what you're doing.

the hard/easy myth

http://www.coacheseducation.com/xc/jack_farrell_july_00.htm

early season training

http://www.coacheseducation.com/xc/jack_farrell_sept_02.html

WE are not talking about high school runners. Name your best master runners.

Tatyana Pozdnyakova

Training is training.

Nope! One is 15 years old and the other is 55 years old.

Thanks for the advice! As far as PR's - for 5K I ran about 20:30 in high school, 19:30 in the one year I ran in college and then got down to about about 19:00 a couple of years after I quit running in college and trained on my own. I also have a mile PR of 5:12, 2:18 for 800 and a 58 second mile relay split so I had decent speed but nothing special. Not sure what I can run for these shorter races today - but I ran around 6:20 for my first mile in my best 5K so far.

Don't spends months and months doing slow to medium pace running, as most would advise here. Include lot of short sharp stuff in your training, without hurting yourself and you will see big improvements in you performance in a matter of weeks.